The Many Faces of Pain: Ville Taipale

The Many Faces of Pain is a photography exhibition presenting pain patients from across Finland. The exhibition's central idea is that pain is invisible from the outside - it is part of a person who carries it within themselves. The display features part of a larger body of work photographed last summer in different parts of Finland.

Photographer Ville Taipale is himself a pain patient living with CRPS, a complex regional pain syndrome, as are most of the people he photographed. He rode a motorcycle 2,500 km over five days across Finland to meet and photograph pain patients. The exhibition aims to raise awareness about pain patients and especially those living with CRPS.

"The photographs tell the story that the subject wanted to tell. Some images show the place where the pain condition began to spread, and in some works the person stands before the camera as their authentic self."